What if Playthings
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if people from Sam's past were guests at the inn? Not as boring as it sounds. Chapter 7 of 7 up.
1. Checking In

What if people from Sam's past were guests at the inn?

Sam and Dean pulled up to the inn that was their next case. "Man, this is awesome. We never get to work cases like this," Dean said.

"Cases like what?" Sam asked. He could never understand how his brother could get so jazzed up about hunting. He only did it because it was important and to save lives, but Dean actually seemed to like it.

"Old school haunted house," Dean answered. "It's so gothic."

"Gothic?" Sam questioned, a little surprised Dean even knew the word.

"Yes, Sam. I do know how to read, you know," Dean shot back.

"So, what happened here again?" Sam asked, changing the subject as he leaned against the Impala.

"Five deaths in five days," Dean answered.

"And they haven't been shut down?" Sam asked.

"I know. It's weird." Dean had wondered about that himself. Even though the deaths were all unrelated and not necessarily the inn's fault, the mere fact that there were so many in one space, should have had the police clearing the area just to be on the safe side.

"How did they die?" Sam asked.

"First guy killed himself by hanging himself from a ceiling fan. The next night, a woman drowned in the bath tub. Next day a kid drowned in the swimming pool. Then a little old lady fell down the stairs. And finally, yesterday, a college kid drank himself into a stupor and choked on his vomit."

"That's classy," Sam said.

"Yeah."

"So, we're thinking not random coincidence?" Sam asked hopefully. He couldn't imagine what could be doing something like this, but it definitely didn't sound fun, whatever it was. Just because he had never experienced random coincidence didn't mean it didn't exist.

"When is anything like this just random coincidence?" Dean asked.

"So, what do we think is doing it?" Sam asked. "It doesn't sound like a ghost. There's no pattern."

"No idea. Let's check in and see if we can find out if anything like this has happened in the past," Dean said.

They pushed up off the Impala and headed into the lobby.

"Hi," a woman behind the desk said. "Are you checking in?"

"Yes," Dean answered.

"One king-sized bed?" she asked.

"What? No two singles. We're brothers," Dean practically yelled. Why did everybody think they were gay? He was turning about 8 shades of red he was so mad.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She really seemed to have offended him even though she hadn't meant to. The only thing she could think of was how scary he looked at that moment.

"That's OK," Sam said, and shot his brother a look. Dean looked like he was going to explode.

"So, I noticed the parking lot is kind of empty," Dean said, after he calmed down.

"Yes. We've had a few accidents in the last few days and a lot of people have checked out." Susan was relieved that he didn't seem to be holding a grudge.

"Accidents?" Sam asked.

"Yes. I can assure you, though, the inn is perfectly safe. It was all just stuff that could have happened anywhere."

"I'm sure you're right," Dean said. "Are we the only guests at the moment, then?" That would be ideal. The less civilians here to get in the way, the better.

"No, there's a family staying here. They've been here almost a week." She handed Dean a key and said, "My name's Susan. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thanks," Sam said. They turned to go up the stairs to their room, when an 11 year old girl came running down the stairs.

"Sam," she yelled.

Dean looked at the girl, not recognizing her. He then looked at Sam, who was standing next to him frozen.

"Sam, it's me, Tyler," the girl said as she reached them and threw her arms around Sam.

"Hey, Tyler," Sam said, hesitantly and put one arm around her too. "How have you been?"

"OK. What about you?" she asked.

"OK. Um, this is my brother, Dean."

"Hi, Dean," Tyler said.

"Hey, Tyler. How do you know my brother?" Sam didn't seem to be forthcoming with the information, so he figured he'd ask the kid.

"He was my sister's boyfriend until she died," Tyler said.

"Oh," was all Dean said as understanding washed over him. No wonder Sam was so stiff.

Just then, a man and a woman appeared at the top of the stairs. "Tyler, where are you?" the man yelled.

"Downstairs, Dad," Tyler answered.

Sam turned white. He hadn't seen Jessica's parents since before Jessica died. They had been out of the country and were going to hold her funeral later. Sam didn't go back for it.

"Look who's here," Tyler announced happily to her parents when they got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Who, dear?" her mother asked with a smile on her face that disappeared the second she looked up and saw Sam.

"You have some nerve showing up where we are," her father said. "Did you know your friend killed our daughter?" heasked, addressing Dean.

"Now, hold on a minute," Dean began, but Jason Moore cut him off.

"He started a fire in their apartment. He got out and left her in there to die," Jason yelled.

"That's not what happened," Dean said.

"Dean, let's just go upstairs," Sam said softly. These people had been like his own family. He had spent Christmases, Thanksgivings and other holidays with them. They had welcomed him into their home and hearts and now they hated him. Sam had felt rejection all his life, but it had never hurt him like this did. He didn't blame them, though. Jessica was beautiful, smart, and perfect in every way. And she was dead because of him.

Dean shot the couple a glare and followed Sam upstairs. "What a jerk!" he said when they got in their room.

"No, he's not, Dean," Sam defended the man, who had been like a second father to him. And considering his first father, that made him pretty special.

"He accused you of killing Jessica. If he...," Dean began, but Sam cut him off.

"Can we just drop it, OK? Let's see if we can figure out what is behind these deaths before it strikes again. It's been killing every day. It's noon now, so we have less than twelve hours to stop it. And Dean, if anything happens to a member of Jess's family…. Well, I just don't think I could live with myself. After I got her killed, I owe it to her to keep her family safe."

"OK, let's do some research. You research deaths in the area and here at the inn, and I'll take a look around. See if I can't find some EMF or sulphur or slime from Slimer," Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes at the last remark, but pulled out his lap top to get to work.


	2. Checking Out?

Dean went up to the attic. If he learned anything from scary movies, it was that everything always started in the basement or attic. Of course, he also learned that he shouldn't go to either of these places alone, but as usual, it was selective learning. There was no EMF or sulphur in the attic. There was nothing except for an empty chest. But the way the dust lay, it definitely looked like it was recently emptied out. He had no idea what was in it before. He would have to ask Susan in a way that she didn't think he was snooping around her attic. No quicker way to get kicked out.

"Hi, Susan," he said when he got downstairs to the desk.

"Hi. Is everything OK with your room?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's great. I was just wondering about this place. I'm kind of a history buff. Well, actually, I'm just getting into history," he amended in case she tried to start discussing something he knew nothing about.

"That's great. I wish I was more interested in that kind of stuff, but to be honest, I always found school a little boring."

A woman after my own heart, Dean thought. "So did I, just getting interested, like I said. Anyway, I was wondering about the history of this place. When was it built?"

"Oh, this building was built in the 1600's. It's had a lot of renovation done and some rebuilding of parts of it, but it's basically the same building from back then. It wasn't an inn when it was first built, though. This was a farm. More like a plantation, but that word isn't really used in the north."

"So, were there like slaves and stuff?" Dean asked.

"There were probably some house slaves, but there weren't field slaves up north, because they would have only been needed a few months of the year. Not economical to take care of slaves all year round when you only need workers for about half the year," Susan explained.

"Make sense," Dean said, trying to figure out how to get the information he wanted. "If you're not a history scholar how do you know all this stuff?"

"My great-great-great grandfather was the original owner of this place. Not actually sure on the number of greats. My family has passed down a lot of the stories through the generations. That kind of history is fun, when it's your own," Susan smiled.

"Yeah, that does make it more interesting. So, you probably also grew up exploring attics and basements and whatnot, finding all sorts of treasure, too. I know that's what I'd be doing when I was a kid if I grew up in a place like this," Dean said, hoping she'd take the bait.

"Actually, back in the depression, pretty much everything was sold off. All there was left in the attic was a bunch of old books."

"What kind of old books," Dean asked.

"I don't know really. Not much of a reader, I'm afraid."

"Well, this was really interesting talking to you. Sorry to have bothered you," Dean said, disappointed that he really hadn't found anything out.

"No problem."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam was just finishing up his research when Dean came in. "What did you find out?" Sam asked.

"Nothing except that there were a bunch of old books in the attic that aren't there anymore. What about you?"

"There has only been one death at the inn in the last hundred years. Last month Susan's mother, Rose, died. There haven't been any other weird deaths in the town for the last hundred years."

"How did Rose die?" Dean asked, latching onto the closest death.

"Stroke. She was seventy years old."

"That's not that old," Dean said, "but on the other hand, not that young to have a stroke either."

"I found her obituary and she had had medical problems her whole life. So, sounds like just a natural death to me."

"What about prior to a hundred years earlier?" Dean asked.

"There was a fire at the Town Hall. All the records were destroyed, so nothing on the internet from before then."

"Great."

"Well, if there was a ghost that old, I think it would have struck by now, don't you?" Sam asked.

"Who knows what ghosts are thinking? Remember Peter Sweeney? He waited thirty years to take his revenge," Dean pointed out. "Some ghosts are either patient or they don't develop the skills until later."

"You may have a point. But there is no way to determine what happened before then, so what's our next step."

"No idea," Dean said.

All of the sudden, they heard some yelling, "Tyler."

"That's Tracy," Sam said.

"Who?" Dean asked.

"Tyler's mother," Sam answered. It sometimes still hurt to say Jessica's name.

Sam and Dean went downstairs. "Where's Tyler," Jason demanded.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since we checked in. What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"We were going to stay until tomorrow, but now that you're here, we want to leave now. Unfortunately, we can't find Tyler anywhere. We've been looking for the last two hours."

"Have you called the police?" Sam asked.

"Yes, just now. They're on the way," Jason answered. "Not that you care," he added.

"I'll check the kitchen. Jenny's been sneaking her cookies on the side," Susan offered. Jenny was the cook and the only other staff member on the premises. With all the people checking out, Susan had had to send everyone else home. She was probably going to have to close the inn in a couple of months if business didn't pick up.

"Thanks," Jason said. "I hope you're happy you upset my wife and daughter earlier today," he said to Sam.

"Your daughter didn't look very upset to me," Dean said.

"Dean," Sam warned.

"Sam," Dean began but stopped when they heard a scream coming from the kitchen.


	3. Search Parties

"Sam," Dean began but stopped when they heard a scream coming from the kitchen. All four of them ran back to the kitchen. They walked in and saw Susan standing over a woman, presumably Jenny. The woman was all bloody as if she had been hacked to death by a cleaver. In fact, that was what Sam and Dean each thought probably happened.

"Tyler," Tracy screamed again. "I told you we should have left before. There's something bad going on here."

"Tracy, just calm down. We will find her," Jason attempted to soothe his wife and brought her into a hug.

"Hello," they heard someone call from the lobby.

"That's Karen. She's on the local police force," Susan said. "Karen, come back here quick," she yelled.

Karen entered the room and said, "What happened?"

"We just found her like this a couple of minutes ago," Susan answered.

"I need everybody out of the room," Karen said, attempting to take charge. They had never had a murder in this town before and she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Everybody gladly left the room, though, without an argument.

"I need to call this in," she said and reached for her cell phone.

"That won't work here. We can't get a signal all the way out here," Susan warned.

Karen soon found that to be the case. She went over to the desk to use the phone, but there was no dial tone. "How long has the phone been out?" she asked.

"I didn't know it was. I called you from it, so not long," Susan said.

"OK. I have a radio out in the car. I'll use that. In the meantime, nobody touch anything."

"What about our daughter," Tracy asked.

"Well, when Susan called, we figured she just wandered off, so they just sent me. But now, I'm going to get some extra men out here to help with the search." With that she was out the door to use the radio. "What the heck?" she said to herself.

In just the few minutes she was inside, her tires had been slashed along with Susan's and Jenny's cars, and two cars that she assumed belonged to the guests. No, wait. She realized that when she drove up, the other cars looked strange and she realized the tires had already been slashed. That meant just hers had been slashed while she had been inside. She ducked her head inside the car to find the radio was missing. "Great," she said.

She went inside and gave everyone the news. "Now, what?" Jason asked. "We came here because it was secluded but we're surrounded by miles of woods."

"Look, first things first," Sam said. "We need to find Tyler. We can split up and look, and when we find her, we can hike out of here for help."

"I'm not listening to anything you say," Jason said, belligerently. "My oldest daughter is dead because of you. I'm not letting you anywhere near my other daughter. Assuming, of course, that you haven't already done something with her."

"What's going on?" Karen asked.

"Their daughter died in a fire. They blame Sam, but it wasn't his fault," Dean answered before anyone else had a chance to say anything.

"OK, well we should split up into pairs, anyway. Why don't you and your wife take the south section, I'll go with Sam over the east section, and Susan and," she paused for Dean to supply his name, "Dean will take the west. We'll all meet back here in two hours. It will be dark then. Then if we haven't found her, Sam and I will hike into town tomorrow for help, while the rest of you search. It will be too dangerous running around in the dark with a killer on the loose," Karen said when the Moores began to object to quitting at dark.

"Fine," they reluctantly agreed.

"If you make us come looking for you, that's time we're not looking for your daughter," she warned them. Then they all took off on their respective searches.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

A half an hour later, Sam and Karen were working their way through the woods. "Tyler!" Sam called for what seemed the millionth time.

There was no response. It was mid-fall and the path was littered with leaves. They made a crunching sound as they walked. Karen set one foot down and realized she was falling into a trap. "Sam!" she yelled. Sam reflexively lunged for her and they both ended up falling into a pit. It was about fifteen feet deep, and they had fallen face down, Karen ending up on top of Sam.

They heard a grate closing over them and what sounded like a lock slamming into place, but when they were finally able to look up there was nobody there.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, but was met with silence.

"Help!" he yelled.

"Let us out!" Karen yelled.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Jason and Tracy were yelling for yelling for Tyler too. They were also getting no response. "Come on, Tracy, we have to turn around now, to get back to the inn on time. We don't want them wasting time looking for us. We'll walk over fifty yards and then start back. That way we'll be covering fresh territory."

Tracy just nodded. She had already lost one daughter. She couldn't lose the other one, too.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"What are these books?" Karen asked. Sam looked down and there were several books on the "floor." He picked one up. "They're witchcraft books," he said. He opened one up, but the books were obviously old and the printing was faint. With the sun beginning to go down, there wasn't enough light for Sam to see what spells they contained.

"What are they doing out here?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't bode well for us," Sam responded.


	4. Tyler's Found

Dean and Susan were just returning to the inn when they saw something coming out of the other side of the woods. Tyler came limping out. "Tyler, are you OK?" Dean asked as they approached her. She was all muddy and her clothing was torn. She was crying.

"What happened?" Susan asked her. Just then her parents came out of the woods from their direction.

"Tyler," Tracy cried as she ran to her daughter.

"Where were you?" Jason asked, concerned. His daughter looked a mess.

"I was out front here after lunch and someone grabbed me," Tyler said between sobs.

"What? I mean who?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. I couldn't see him. He put something over my head and carried me into the woods. Then he dumped me into a hole. It was deep, but I kept trying and I was able to climb out. Then I started running, but I didn't know where I was going and I got lost but I kept running, then I tripped over a root and hurt my ankle, but I kept walking and finally I ended up here." Dean was wondering how she got that out all in one breath.

"It was probably Sam," Jason asserted.

"Come on," Dean said. Then he realized Sam and Karen weren't back yet. "Where is he?"

"He's probably killing that police officer," Jason said.

"Jason, you're being ridiculous," Tracy said. "We have had Sam Winchester to our house for countless holidays and we always liked him. Yes, we needed someone to blame after Jessica's death, but we know deep down, he didn't kill her."

Jason sighed, but otherwise didn't respond.

"We should go inside," Susan said. It's getting dark and there's a murderer out here.

Dean wanted to go and look for Sam, but Sam wanted to make sure that Jessica's family was OK. He couldn't leave them here unprotected at night. "We should all sleep in the lobby," Dean said. "We don't want to be split up."

Everybody nodded at that. "What about Sam?" Tyler asked.

"We'll all hike out of here tomorrow and send back help," Dean said. Leaving Sam behind went against everything Dean believed in, but he knew Sam would want to make sure the Moores were safely out of here above all else. Besides, it would be easier to look for him with more people.

"I'm going to take Tyler up for a bath," Tracy said.

"We shouldn't split up for any reason," Dean said.

"But she's filthy and wet," Tracy pointed out.

"What if we all stand outside the room while Tracy and Tyler are in the bathroom," Jason suggested.

Dean nodded. "That should be OK."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"It's getting cold," Sam observed. "October in New England, outside at night. Not my idea of a good time."

"Well, I hope you don't think I'm being forward, but we should probably huddle together for warmth," Karen blushed.

Sam sat down and pulled Karen over to him and wrapped his arms around her. "How's that?" he asked.

"Still cold, but better," she said. They eventually fell asleep like that.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The next morning, Dean and the others got ready to leave. "How far to the road?" he asked Susan.

"Three miles," she answered.

"My ankle," Tyler whined.

"I'll give you a piggyback ride," Jason offered.

Dean looked at the man and judged him to be in his early fifties. "Maybe we can take turns," Dean offered.

Jason smiled at him gratefully. Three miles of carrying his eighty pound daughter on his back was going to be a strain. He didn't trust either of the Winchester brothers, but as long as he was right there beside him, he saw no reason Dean couldn't carry Tyler.

Tyler hopped on Dean's back and the small group headed towards town.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam again tried to examine one of the books that Karen had found yesterday. "Can you tell what they are now?" she asked.

"Yes, there are rituals for bring back the dead. The odd thing is some of the pages seem to be missing."

"Well, they do seem to be rather old books," Karen noted.

"Yeah, I guess," Sam agreed.

"What do you mean, bringing back the dead? Like zombies?" Karen asked. She certainly didn't believe any of this stuff, but was curious as to what the books were for.

"No, not zombies. Actually bringing back a dead person as a person. It looks like you need seven blood sacrifices on seven days," Sam said, straining to read the faded wording written in Elizabethan English.

"There have been six deaths over the last six days," Karen realized.

"Someone is going to die today," Sam said ominously.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

The group was trudging down the road to town when they heard something.

"Help!"

"Let us out!"

"That was Sam," Dean said, recognizing his brother's voice, and setting down Tyler who was still riding on his back.

"And Karen," Susan added.

"You guys stay here, I'm going to go find them," Dean ordered.

"I'm going to come with you. None of us should go off on their own," Susan said.

Dean hesitated for a moment and then agreed. He didn't know what he was going to find out there. If his brother was yelling for help, it wasn't going to be good. Susan had told him the night before that she had briefly joined the army when she was younger. She had had some of the same kind of training as him and Sam. "OK, let's go. You guys stay here. If we're not back in a half hour, start heading towards town again."

Jason nodded.


	5. Tyler's Missing Again

Dean and Susan headed off into the woods towards the sound. A few minutes later, they again heard Sam yell for help and Karen yell to be let out. It was close and they ran to the sound. They looked around but didn't see anyone.

"Sam!" Dean yelled. They were met with silence.

"That's weird. It sounded like it was coming from over here, didn't it?" Dean asked, puzzled. If Sam was capable of yelling, why didn't he answer him?

Susan kicked some leaves in front of her and hit something solid. She bent down and picked up a tape recorder. "It's on a loop," she said holding it up for Dean to see. Just then, Sam's "Help!" sounded from the machine, shortly followed by Karen's "Let us out!"

"We need to get back to the others," Dean said, and they turned and ran in the other direction.

SSSSSSSSSSSS

Jason and Tracy were looking out in the direction Dean and Susan had gone. "Maybe we should just keep heading to town. They'll catch up." Tracy was getting antsy just standing there. There was a murderer somewhere in these woods and she didn't want to just sit around waiting for him to come for them.

"OK," Jason agreed, and turned to pick up Tyler. She was gone.

SSSSSSSSSSS

"Do you hear something?" Karen whispered to Sam.

"Yeah, I think so,"Sam said. "Hey, we're down here, "he yelled.

"Shh, we don't know who it is."

"Well, if it's whoever locked us in here, they already know we're here," Sam pointed out logically.

"Good point," Karen said, wondering why she hadn't realized that.

They looked up to see Tyler standing at the grate opening. "Tyler, are you OK?" Sam asked.

"I'm fine," Tyler answered. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry, for what?" Sam asked.

"This," she said and she whipped out a gun and shot Karen through the holes in the grating before either Karen or Sam had a chance to react.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean and Susan got back to the road to find Jason and Tracy calling frantically for Tyler. "What happened?" Dean asked.

"We only turned our backs for a minute and she was gone," Tracy cried.

"Did you hear anything?" Dean asked.

"No, but she couldn't have run off on her own, her ankle was hurt. Besides, why would she. She knows there's a killer out there," Jason said.

"You two go onto town. Susan and I will look for her," Dean ordered.

"No way," Jason said.

"Look, we need more people to help us search. The two of us can search more efficiently and deal with what we find better than you two. The best way for you to help your daughter is to get the cops."

"He's right," Tracy said and dragged her husband off to town.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Tyler, why did you do that?" Sam asked.

"I had to, to bring Jessie back," Tyler said. Jessie. Tyler was the only one allowed to call Jessica that, much in the same way Dean was the only one allowed to call him Sammy.

"Wait, you killed all those people to bring Jess back?" Sam asked, realization just dawning on him. This was the sweet little girl that would cry when he and Jess went back to college and begged them to play games with her when they visited.

"Yes, I miss her so much," Tyler started crying. "But now she can come back. I've completed the ritual."

"Do you think Jess would want people to die for her?" Sam asked.

"Probably not," Tyler admitted, "but I had to do it. She'll understand. She'll forgive me."

Sam thought that maybe that was true. Jess had never been able to stay angry at anyone for long—especially not her sister, who she loved more than anyone, with the possible exception of Sam.

"How did you even know about this stuff?" Sam asked.

"Maggie told me where to find the books and helped me with the spells," Tyler answered.

"Who's Maggie?" Sam asked.

"I am," said an eighteen year old girl who suddenly appeared next to Tyler.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Where should we look?" Susan asked.

"We should take the section Sam and Karen took yesterday. Hopefully, they are still in that area," Dean said.

They headed in that direction. Fortunately, that was the way they were heading on their way to town, so they weren't far.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Maggie, where's Jessie?" Tyler asked, full of anticipation.

"She's dead," Maggie said.

"But, I don't understand, you said that by killing those people, she would come back to life," Tyler said, clearly confused.

"Yes, I did, but I lied. Those pages that I told you had fallen out, they would have told you that this ritual only brings back witches. I was a witch back in the 1600's and now you brought me back. So, thanks." With that Maggie walked away.

"Tyler, you need to let me out," Sam demanded.

"I can't. I'll be in so much trouble when you tell on me," Tyler started crying again.

"I don't understand something, Tyler. You're just a little girl. How did you hang a full grown man, make a guy choke on his vomit, and hack up a woman?" The others weren't that hard to understand

"Maggie taught me a levitation ritual and how to tie the knot and make him fall at just the right moment. I found the college guy drunk, I just rolled him over onto his back and started pouring more down his throat until he started throwing up. That was gross. And as for Jenny and the two I drowned, Maggie taught me a submission spell to make them still while I killed them."

"Well, that was pretty clever. Nobody was going to suspect a child in those kinds of deaths. In fact, Tyler, I'm pretty sure nobody would believe me even if I did tell them what you did. So, you can go ahead and let me out," Sam said, hoping she would believe him.

"Sam! Tyler!" they heard Dean yelling.

"Dean!" Sam yelled back.

Tyler took off running in the opposite direction.

"Sammy," Dean sighed in relief when he got to the pit. "What happened?" he asked as he saw Karen's bloody body lying near Sam.

"Tyler shot her," Sam said sadly.

"Tyler?" Dean asked, incredulous, as he began to pick the lock holding the grating in place.

"Yeah, she was trying to work a spell to bring Jessica back," Sam explained.

"Trying? Did it not work?" Dean asked.

"The ghost of a witch tricked her. It actually brought her back."

"Oh, that's not good," Dean said as he finally got the lock undone and pulled up the grating.

"A witch?" Susan asked. "Was her name Maggie, do you know?"

"Yeah, actually it was," Sam confirmed. "Do you know about her?"

"Yes, my family has been passing down hoodoo rituals to keep her at bay for 300 years. I didn't believe my mother, though, thought it was all a bunch of superstitious nonsense. I didn't perform the rituals anymore after she died last month."

"Now, she's back and creating havoc," Dean said.

"I'm sorry," Susan said.

"You couldn't have known," Sam soothed her. "Anybody would have thought that story was crazy."

"Can we perform the ritual now?" Susan asked.

"No, it was probably to keep a ghost at bay and Maggie is human now," Sam said. Dean lay down and leaned into the hole as far as he could. Sam jumped up and caught his hand and with much groaning and straining, Dean managed to pull him out. They lay on the ground panting for a couple of minutes before standing up to get to work.

"Where are Tracy and Jason?" Sam suddenly asked, fearing for their safety.

"We sent them on ahead to town," Dean answered.

A/N I guess everybody figured out Tyler was the bad guy. I was hoping to keep that a secret, but guess I'm not sneaky enough. Oh well, hopefully you didn't guess the whole thing and there might be another twist coming up.


	6. Maggie's Story

Jason and Tracy were about a half mile from the main road when they heard something behind them. "Mom, Dad," Tyler came running up to them.

"Tyler, where were you ? Are you OK?" Tracy asked.

"Yes, I managed to get away again," Tyler answered.

"Did you see who took you this time?" Jason asked.

"It was Sam," Tyler lied. "He told me he killed Jessie because she was going to break up with him and if he couldn't have her, he would have me instead," she burst into tears.

"I'm going to kill him," Jason thundered.

"I guess you were right," Tracy said. "We should get to the police as fast as we can."

"Forget the police. I want to kill him myself."

"Be reasonable, Jason. He's half your age and a lot bigger. Plus he has brother protecting him. We need to get Tyler to town."

"You're right. Tyler, how's your ankle?"

"It actually feels better," Tyler said. No point in pretending it hurt since she didn't need to slow them down any longer. They headed off towards town.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"If she's a human, we should be able to just shoot her," Dean said.

"True, but after Tyler shot Karen she dropped the gun on the ground. I don't see it anywhere so Maggie must have picked it up."

"Great, a witch with a gun. That's all we need," Dean said.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Maggie sat in front of the lake, her favorite spot when she had been alive. It was different now, but she remembered sneaking out for late night trysts with her boyfriend William. She built a fire and dropped the herbs she had collected in it. She chanted:

"Evil Father in whom I believe  
From these woods let no one leave."

Then just for fun she threw her head back and cackled. It felt good to be practicing her art of witchcraft again.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Moores were just reaching the end of the woods. "Finally," Jason sighed a breath of relief. He remembered it was only a short distance to the police station from there. However, when they went to take a step onto the road, it was like something was physically blocking their path.

"It feels like a wall, but there's nothing there," Tracy said, puzzled.

Jason ran up and fell to the ground as he bounced off the invisible wall. Tracy pounded on it. Tyler kicked it several times. "It's Maggie," she whispered.

Her parents didn't hear her and she was glad. She would hate to have to explain what she had done. But now she wondered how they would ever get out.

"What should we do?" Tracy asked Jason.

"Find Dean and Susan, I guess," he shrugged.

They turned around and headed back the way they had come.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"So, what do you know about Maggie?" Dean asked as he pulled out his gun to make sure it was loaded.

"She died here in the late 1600s. She was accused of being a witch and was burned at the stake."

Sam shuddered. He didn't care if she was a witch. Nobody deserved that. He couldn't help but thinking of Jessica burning on the ceiling, the look of torture on her face and the smell of her burning skin.

"She used to meet her boyfriend by the lake. He's the one who accused her of witchcraft," Susan continued.

"Why would he do something like that?" Sam asked. "He must have known the consequences." Sam couldn't imagine consigning someone to that fate no matter what they had done.

"Well, I don't know, there are a few theories. One says that she was pregnant with his child and trying to trap him into marriage. Another says that she had placed a love spell on him and when he found out he was furious with her. The last theory is that another witch placed a love spell on him and made him do it."

"What difference does it make? I say we find her and waste her," Dean said, as pragmatic as ever.

"We should probably start looking by the lake. If that's where she liked to go before, she would probably return there now," Sam suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Susan agreed and the three of them trudged off in the direction of the lake.

When they reached the lake a few minutes later, Maggie was sitting in front of the fire she had built mesmerized by the flames. Her long red hair was flowing behind her and it almost seemed she was part of the fire.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

As they were walking, Tyler suddenly remembered that Maggie was always talking about fire. She was overcome with an almost paralyzing fear that the woods were going to catch fire. "We should go to the lake," she said.

"Why?" Tracy asked.

"I just have a feeling that's where we should go. I think we'll be safest there," Tyler tried to convey her insistence without needing to explain.

"Well, we don't have any better alternatives," her father shrugged. They headed off, letting Tyler lead the way.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Maggie turned to look at the three newcomers. "Dean, is it?" she asked.

"You've heard of me?" he asked.

"The whole other world has heard of you. Your family is always killing our kind. We don't like it," Maggie hissed.

"Just doing our job. Speaking of," Dean said and raised his gun to shoot her.

Maggie raised her hand at the same time and the gun went flying out of Dean's hand. In turn she pulled out the gun that she had picked up after Tyler had shot Karen. "My powers are a little weak. I'm going to have to dispatch you the old-fashioned way. Pity, really," Maggie said.

"Can I ask you two questions first?" Sam asked.

"I don't see why not. I haven't had anyone to talk to in 300 years, besides that stupid Tyler, so five minutes of adult conversation before I send you on your way might be enjoyable."

"Why have Tyler make the sacrifices. Why not do it yourself?" Sam asked. He was really mad that Tyler had been used that way. She would have those deaths on her head for the rest of her life and she would never know innocence again.

"The living must send the living to the land of death in order to bring the dead to the land of the living," Maggie quoted.

OK, made as much sense as anything else in their world did. "Why did your boyfriend betray you?" Sam asked this knowing it might make Maggie mad, but she was about to kill them anyway.

"My sister, Susan's ancestor," she said nodding towards the innkeeper, "got pregnant with his child. I made a potion to get rid of it. He was furious with me. He was the one who cheated on me and he was furious with me!" She shrieked the last sentence. She was done talking with these idiots. She lifted her gun and decided to shoot Sam first. He was the one who had brought back all her pain. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Tyler came running out of the woods behind her and screamed, "No not him!"


	7. Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

Maggie spun around and Tyler lunged at her. "Tyler, no," her mother said. She had no idea who this woman was or what was going on, but clearly this is something they should be staying out of.

The gun went off, and Tyler fell to the ground, a red stain spreading across her chest. Her last dying thought, was that she hoped in some way this would make up for all that she did. And she smiled, hoping to see Jessie soon.

"No!" Jason and Tracy both ran to her.

Meanwhile, Dean had picked up his own gun and fired it at Maggie, sending her back to the land of the dead.

Jason looked up at Sam, "Now you've taken both our daughters away."

"Sam, we should go," Dean said to Sam.

Sam was just staring at the family. Tyler was clearly dead. Jason and Tracy were mourning her. Jessica would hate him if she knew what had happened here today. He was sure of that. He couldn't believe that three Christmases ago they were all sitting around a fireplace talking about what was going on at school and in their lives. Everybody had been happy and laughing and eating pie. Sam had been a little sad that he had missed out on all this when he was younger, but so glad that he had it now and would have it for the rest of his life, or so he thought.

Dean tugged on Sam again. "Let's go," he said more urgently. These people knew their real names. Dean was wanted for murder in St. Louis and Baltimore. They couldn't be here when the cops showed up. Sam let himself be led away.

"Are you OK?" Dean asked him a few minutes later as they walked back up to the inn.

"No," was all he got for a response. Dean would make him talk later, but for now they had to figure out how to get out of here. They had four flat tires.

"Can you fix the tires?" Sam asked as if reading his mind.

"Yeah, I think so. Go run up to our room and get our stuff."

A half an hour later, Dean was done with the tires. They turned onto the main road minutes before the cops showed up.

"Sam, Tyler's death wasn't your fault," Dean said.

"Dean, just don't, OK?" Sam said.

"No, Sam, you always carry stuff like this around with you and let it eat away at you. I'm not going to let you this time. Tyler missed her sister and a ghost used that to her advantage. If I could make that stupid Maggie suffer anymore I would."

"Speaking of which," Sam said, more to change the subject than anything else, "Do you think Maggie is a ghost again?"

"Crap, I don't know why, but I didn't even think of that," Dean admitted.

"Wait, why did they come back?" Sam asked.

"What? Who?" Dean asked.

"Tyler and her parents. Jason and Tracy were supposed to be going for help and I assume Tyler caught up with them. Why would they come back?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "Maybe we should call Susan later tonight and find out what happened after we left."

"Good idea," Sam said. They continued the drive in silence.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Moores and Susan were at the police station answering questions as best they could. Jason and Tracy didn't really know anything and Susan was trying to keep out all mention of ghosts and witches.

"Wait, did you say Sam and Dean Winchester," the officer at the computer asked Jason. "From Lawrence, Kansas originally?"

"Yes, I believe that is where Sam said he was from. Why?"

"Dean is wanted for murder in St. Louis and Baltimore, and they're both wanted for identity theft, grave desecration and resisting arrest."

Jason gave his wife a meaningful glance. "I told you. Sam just tried to kidnap my daughter, are you going to add kidnapping to the list?"

"I'll put an APB out."

They finished up with their statements. Jason and Tracy headed back home and Susan went back to the inn.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Susan's phone rang at midnight. She answered it, "Hello?"

"Susan, it's Sam, what happened after we left?"

"The police came and questioned us. Are you really wanted for all those crimes?" Susan asked. She had been thinking about it all day. She just couldn't believe these two who were trying to save everybody could be guilty of such atrocities.

"We're wanted for them, but we've never hurt anybody," Sam said. He wasn't sure how true that was, but didn't want to get into it right now. "Do you know why the Moores came back to thelake?"

"They said when they got to the edge of the woods, they couldn't get out. It was like there was an invisible wall there."

"That's actually good news for once," Sam said.

"How?' Susan asked.

"Because if the force field is down, it means that Maggie has gone to the other side. She's not a ghost anymore."

"Are you sure?" Susan asked. She was rubbing her head. She could definitely feel a headache coming on.

"I'm sure. I've been researching witches all day. If their spell dies with them, that means they are dead once and for all," Sam said.

"That's a relief," Susan said and hung up.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

That night, when Jason and Tracy reached their home in Wyoming, Jason went upstairs and stood between Jessica's and Tyler's rooms. "I swear to you girls, Sam Winchester will pay for what he did to you." There was a hard look in his eye and had anyone been there to witness the statement, there would have been no doubt that Sam Winchester's days were numbered.

TheEnd


End file.
